Download or read book The Search for Milky Way Halo Substructure WIMP Annihilations Using the GLAST LAT written by and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 4 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The GLAST LAT Collaboration is one among several experimental groups, covering a wide range of approaches, pursuing the search for the nature of dark matter. The GLAST LAT has the unique ability to find new sources of high energy gamma radiation emanating directly from WIMP annihilations in situ in the universe. Using it's wide band spectral and full sky spatial capabilities, the GLAST LAT can form ''images'' in high energy gamma-rays of dark matter substructures in the gamma-ray sky. We describe a preliminary feasibility study for indirect detection of milky way dark matter satellites using the GLAST LAT.

Download or read book The Role of Halo Substructure in Gamma Ray Dark Matter Searches written by Miguel A. Sánchez-Conde and published by MDPI. This book was released on 2020-05-28 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An important, open research topic today is to understand the relevance that dark matter halo substructure may have for dark matter searches. In the standard cosmological model, halo substructure or subhalos are predicted to be largely abundant inside larger halos, for example, galaxies such as ours, and are thought to form first and later merge to form larger structures. Dwarf satellite galaxies—the most massive exponents of halo substructure in our own galaxy—are already known to be excellent targets for dark matter searches, and indeed, they are constantly scrutinized by current gamma-ray experiments in the search for dark matter signals. Lighter subhalos not massive enough to have a visible counterpart of stars and gas may be good targets as well, given their typical abundances and distances. In addition, the clumpy distribution of subhalos residing in larger halos may boost the dark matter signals considerably. In an era in which gamma-ray experiments possess, for the first time, the exciting potential to put to test the preferred dark matter particle theories, a profound knowledge of dark matter astrophysical targets and scenarios is mandatory should we aim for accurate predictions of dark matter-induced fluxes for investing significant telescope observing time on selected targets and for deriving robust conclusions from our dark matter search efforts. In this regard, a precise characterization of the statistical and structural properties of subhalos becomes critical. In this Special Issue, we aim to summarize where we stand today on our knowledge of the different aspects of the dark matter halo substructure; to identify what are the remaining big questions, and how we could address these; and, by doing so, to find new avenues for research.

Download or read book GLAST And Dark Matter Substructure in the Milky Way written by and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 4 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We discuss the possibility of GLAST detecting gamma-rays from the annihilation of neutralino dark matter in the Galactic halo. We have used 'Via Lactea', currently the highest resolution simulation of cold dark matter substructure, to quantify the contribution of subhalos to the annihilation signal. We present a simulated allsky map of the expected gamma-ray counts from dark matter annihilation, assuming standard values of particle mass and cross section. In this case GLAST should be able to detect the Galactic center and several individual subhalos. One of the most exciting discoveries that the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) could make, is the detection of gamma-rays from the annihilation of dark matter (DM). Such a measurement would directly address one of the major physics problems of our time: the nature of the DM particle. Whether or not GLAST will actually detect a DM annihilation signal depends on both unknown particle physics and unknown astrophysics theory. Particle physics uncertainties include the type of particle (axion, neutralino, Kaluza-Klein particle, etc.), its mass, and its interaction cross section. From the astrophysical side it appears that DM is not smoothly distributed throughout the Galaxy halo, but instead exhibits abundant clumpy substructure, in the form of thousands of so-called subhalos. The observability of DM annihilation radiation originating in Galactic DM subhalos depends on their abundance, distribution, and internal properties. Numerical simulations have been used in the past to estimate the annihilation flux from DM substructure, but since the subhalo properties, especially their central density profile, which determines their annihilation luminosity, are very sensitive to numerical resolution, it makes sense to re-examine their contribution with higher resolution simulations.

Download or read book Searches for WIMP Annihilation with GLAST written by L. Wai and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 4 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We describe signatures for WIMP annihilation in the gamma ray sky which can be observed by the GLAST mission, scheduled for launch in 2007. We review the search regions, which range from galactic substructure in the Milky Way all the way out to cosmological sources.

Download or read book Searching for Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies and Other Galactic Dark Matter Substructures with the Fermi Large Area Telescope written by and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the past century, it has become clear that about a quarter of the known universe is composed of an invisible, massive component termed ''dark matter''. Some of the most popular theories of physics beyond the Standard Model suggest that dark matter may be a new fundamental particle that could self-annihilate to produce [gamma] rays. Nearby over-densities in the dark matter halo of our Milky Way present some of the most promising targets for detecting the annihilation of dark matter. We used the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on-board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope to search for [gamma] rays produced by dark matter annihilation in Galactic dark matter substructures. We searched for [gamma]-ray emission coincident with Milky Way dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies, which trace the most massive Galactic dark matter substructures. We also sought to identify nearby dark matter substructures that lack all astrophysical tracers and would be detectable only through [gamma]-ray emission from dark matter annihilation. We found no conclusive evidence for [gamma]-ray emission from dark matter annihilation, and we set stringent and robust constraints on the dark matter annihilation cross section. While [gamma]-ray searches for dark matter substructure are currently the most sensitive and robust probes of dark matter annihilation, they are just beginning to intersect the theoretically preferred region of dark matter parameter space. Thus, we consider future prospects for increasing the sensitivity of [gamma]-ray searches through improvements to the LAT instrument performance and through upcoming wide- field optical surveys.

Download or read book Estimate for GLAST LAT Milky Way Dark Matter WIMP Line Sensitivity written by and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 2 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The LAT Dark Matter and New Physics Working group has been developing approaches for the indirect astrophysical detection of annihilation of dark matter. Our work has assumed that a significant component of dark matter is a new type of Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP). The annihilation of two WIMPs usually results in the production of many high energy gamma rays (>1 GeV) that can be well measured in the GLAST LAT if present. There is also the possibility to observe [gamma] lines from annihilation into [gamma][gamma] and or [gamma]Z final states. In popular SUSY theories these line decays occur at the 10−4 to 10−2 branching fraction level. Estimates of LAT sensitivity (at 5[sigma] above background) and upper limits (upper limit at the 95% confidence level) to these WIMP lines will be presented. These sensitivities are given in photons/cm2/sec/sr and so do not depend on the WIMP models. However, they do depend on the diffuse background model. The latter is derived from GALPROP[1] based on EGRET and other data in the EGRET energy range. We use extrapolations, provided by the GALPROP team to the higher energy range of 150 GeV explored in the preliminary line sensitivity study presented here. Comparison with theory depends upon the WIMP model (e.g., line energy and 1 or 2 lines), the DM halo model, and other astrophysics backgrounds. Thus estimates of the ability of the LAT to actually observe WIMP lines can vary over orders of magnitude depending upon which models are chosen.

Download or read book Reports written by Michael Kuhlen and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 4 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The unambiguous detection of dark matter annihilation in our Galaxy would unravel one of the most outstanding puzzles in particle physics and cosmology. Recent observations have motivated models in which the annihilation rate is boosted by the Sommerfeld effect, a nonperturbative enhancement arising from a long-range attractive force. We applied the Sommerfeld correction to Via Lactea II, a high-resolution N-body simulation of a Milky Way-sized galaxy, to investigate the phase-space structure of the galactic halo. We found that the annihilation luminosity from kinematically cold substructure could be enhanced by orders of magnitude relative to previous calculations, leading to the prediction of gamma-ray fluxes from as many as several hundred dark clumps that should be detectable by the Fermi satellite.

Download or read book The Search for Dark Matter in the Milky Way Halo with Fermi written by Aaron J. Sander and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abstract: This dissertation describes the search for dark matter with the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. We search for dark matter by looking for the annihilation or decay of dark matter into gamma-rays. We construct models for the astrophysical backgrounds and perform a likelihood analysis to calculate the 95% confidence upper limits on the annihilation cross section vs. mass for the annihilation into b-bbar and tau+ tau- channels. We also calculate the 95% confidence lower limits on the dark matter decay lifetime vs. mass for the mu- mu+ decay channel.

Download or read book Analysis Methods for Milky Way Dark Matter Satellite Detection written by and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 2 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Gamma Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) Large Area Telescope (LAT) Dark Matter and New Physics Working group has been developing approaches for the indirect detection of in situ annihilation of dark matter. Our work has assumed that a significant component of dark matter is a new type of Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) in the 100GeV mass range. The annihilation of two WIMPs results in the production of a large number of high energy gamma rays (>1GeV) that can be well measured by the GLAST LAT. The cold dark matter model implies a significant number of as yet unobserved dark matter satellites in our galaxy. The spectra of these galactic satellites are considerably harder than most, if not all, astrophysical sources, have an endpoint at the mass of the WIMP, and are not power laws. We describe a preliminary feasibility study for the indirect detection of dark matter satellites in the Milky Way using the GLAST LAT.

Download or read book Dark Matter in Astroparticle and Particle Physics written by Geraint F. Lewis and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2008 with total page 654 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dark matter remains one of the central mysteries in modern physics, although modern astronomical observations and particle physics experiments are providing vital clues in uncovering its true nature. The Dark2007 Conference brought together world-leading researchers in both astrophysics and particle physics, providing them with an opportunity to present their latest results and engage in discussion on their meaning and future direction. This book is important in its field, as it provides a vital snapshot of the seemingly disparate areas of dark matter research and provides an overview of current ideas and future directions.

Download or read book Analysis Methods for Milky Way Dark Matter Halo Detection written by and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 2 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We present methods for the analysis of dark matter annihilation in the smooth halo of the Milky Way galaxy. We model the diffuse gamma-ray background using GALPROP, and model the halo using an NFW profile and the gamma-ray spectrum for WIMP pair annihilation. We plan to combine these models with the point source catalog and a simple model for the extragalactic gamma ray background. Using the downhill simplex method to converge on the maximum likelihood value, we can vary key parameters in these models and fit them to the gamma-ray data. Through the use of the Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method we can then map out the likelihood as a function of the model parameters to estimate the correlated errors on these parameters.

Download or read book High Resolution Search for Dark Matter Axions in Milky Way Halo Substructure written by Leanne Delma Duffy and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 79 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ABSTRACT: The axion is one of the leading particle candidates for the universe's dark matter component. Despite possessing very small couplings, the axion's interaction with photons can be utilized to search for it using a microwave cavity detector. The Axion Dark Matter eXperiment (ADMX) uses such a detector to search for axions in our galactic halo. ADMX has recently added a new, high resolution channel to search for axions in discrete flows. ADMX's medium resolution channel searches for axions in the thermalized component of the halo. We review the motivation for the axion and its properties which make it a good dark matter candidate. We also review the arguments for the existence of discrete flows in galactic halos. A flow of discrete axions with small velocity dispersion will appear as a very narrow peak in the output of a microwave cavity detector. A high resolution search can detect such a peak with large signal to noise. We have performed such a search. The details of the high resolution axion search and analysis procedure are presented. In this search, no axion signal was found in the mass range 1.98-2.17 micro-eV. We place upper limits on the density of axions in local discrete flows based on this result.

Download or read book A Search for Spectral Lines from WIMP Annihilation in the Milky Way Using the Fermi Large Area Telescope written by Yvonne Vasetta Edmonds and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The most popular class of dark matter candidates is the class of weakly-interacting massive particles (WIMPs). The Fermi Large Area Telescope has the possibility of indirectly detecting WIMPs by the flux from their annihilation/decay products. When a WIMP annihilates or decays directly into a photon gamma and another particle Y the photons are monochromatic. Detection of the resulting spectral line(s) would provide convincing evidence for particulate dark matter and could provide the WIMP mass. In the case of no detection, knowledge of the dark matter distribution can be used to place limits on the annihilation cross section and lifetime for the WIMP(s) to Y-gamma channel. We present the spectrum from 4.8 to 264 GeV and spectral line flux upper limits, obtained from a subset of this spectrum, from 7 to 200 GeV. The spatial region of the dataset covers a large portion of the sky, the high latitudes plus the Galactic Center. We report upper limits on the WIMP cross sections for annihilation to gamma-gamma and Z-gamma and lower limits on the WIMP lifetime for decay to gamma-neutrino. We discuss the implications of the spectrum and line flux limits for several dark matter models with optimistic branching ratios for photon channels.

Download or read book Exploring Milkyway Halo Substructures with Large Area Sky Surveys written by and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 133 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the last two decades, our understanding of the Milky Way has been improved thanks to large data sets arising from large-area digital sky surveys. The stellar halo is now known to be inhabited by a variety of spatial and kinematic stellar substructures, including stellar streams and stellar clouds, all of which are predicted by hierarchical Lambda Cold Dark Matter models of galaxy formation. In this dissertation, we first present the analysis of spectroscopic observations of individual stars from the two candidate structures discovered using an M-giant catalog from the Two Micron All-Sky Survey. The follow-up observations show that one of the candidates is a genuine structure which might be associated with the Galactic Anticenter Stellar Structure, while the other one is a false detection due to the systematic photometric errors in the survey or dust extinction in low Galactic latitudes. We then presented the discovery of an excess of main sequence turn-off stars in the direction of the constellations of Eridanus and Phoenix from the first-year data of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) - a five-year, 5,000 deg2 optical imaging survey in the Southern Hemisphere. The Eridanus-Phoenix (EriPhe) overdensity is centered around l ~ 285° and b ~ -60° and the Poisson significance of the detection is at least 9[sigma]. The EriPhe overdensity has a cloud-like morphology and the extent is at least ~ 4 kpc by ~ 3 kpc in projection, with a heliocentric distance of about d ~ 16 kpc. The EriPhe overdensity is morphologically similar to the previously-discovered Virgo overdensity and Hercules-Aquila cloud. These three overdensities lie along a polar plane separated by ~ 120° and may share a common origin. In addition to the scientific discoveries, we also present the work to improve the photometric calibration in DES using auxiliary calibration systems, since the photometric errors can cause false detection in first the halo substructure. We present a detailed description of the two auxiliary calibration systems built at Texas A & M University. We then discuss how the auxiliary systems in DES can be used to improve the photometric calibration of the systematic chromatic errors - source color-dependent systematic errors that are caused by variations in the wavelength dependence of the atmospheric transmission and the instrumental throughput.

Download or read book The Role of Halo Substructure in Gamma Ray Dark Matter Searches written by Miguel A. Sánchez-Conde and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An important, open research topic today is to understand the relevance that dark matter halo substructure may have for dark matter searches. In the standard cosmological model, halo substructure or subhalos are predicted to be largely abundant inside larger halos, for example, galaxies such as ours, and are thought to form first and later merge to form larger structures. Dwarf satellite galaxies--the most massive exponents of halo substructure in our own galaxy--are already known to be excellent targets for dark matter searches, and indeed, they are constantly scrutinized by current gamma-ray experiments in the search for dark matter signals. Lighter subhalos not massive enough to have a visible counterpart of stars and gas may be good targets as well, given their typical abundances and distances. In addition, the clumpy distribution of subhalos residing in larger halos may boost the dark matter signals considerably. In an era in which gamma-ray experiments possess, for the first time, the exciting potential to put to test the preferred dark matter particle theories, a profound knowledge of dark matter astrophysical targets and scenarios is mandatory should we aim for accurate predictions of dark matter-induced fluxes for investing significant telescope observing time on selected targets and for deriving robust conclusions from our dark matter search efforts. In this regard, a precise characterization of the statistical and structural properties of subhalos becomes critical. In this Special Issue, we aim to summarize where we stand today on our knowledge of the different aspects of the dark matter halo substructure; to identify what are the remaining big questions, and how we could address these; and, by doing so, to find new avenues for research.

Download or read book Stringent Constraints on the Dark Matter Annihilation Cross Section From Subhalo Searches with the Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope written by and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The dark matter halo of the Milky Way is predicted to contain a very large number of smaller subhalos. As a result of the dark matter annihilations taking place within such objects, the most nearby and massive subhalos could appear as point-like or spatially extended gamma-ray sources, without observable counterparts at other wavelengths. In this paper, we use the results of the Aquarius simulation to predict the distribution of nearby subhalos, and compare this to the characteristics of the unidentified gamma-ray sources observed by the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope. Focusing on the brightest high latitude sources, we use this comparison to derive limits on the dark matter annihilation cross section. For dark matter particles lighter than ~200 GeV, the resulting limits are the strongest obtained to date, being modestly more stringent than those derived from observations of dwarf galaxies or the Galactic Center. We also derive independent limits based on the lack of unidentified gamma-ray sources with discernible spatial extension, but these limits are a factor of ~2-10 weaker than those based on point-like subhalos. Lastly, we note that four of the ten brightest high-latitude sources exhibit a similar spectral shape, consistent with 30-60 GeV dark matter particles annihilating to b quarks with an annihilation cross section on the order of sigma v ~ (5-10) x 10^-27 cm^3/s, or 8-10 GeV dark matter particles annihilating to taus with sigma v ~ (2.0-2.5) x 10^-27 cm^3/s.

Download or read book Searching for Dark Matter Annihilation from Milky Way Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies with Six Years of Fermi Large Area Telescope Data written by and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: